Comments regarding Willis Orchard Company

A plant I purchased did not come out of dormancy. While the company is willing to replace the $4.95 plant, I have to pay another t$25 shipping cost to get it!! Really not a good practice if you want to retain customers. If you buy from then, be aware of this. . .

The trees were not the size purchased. They offered to replace them provided I pay an exorbitant shipping fee even though I had already paid for the incorrect sized trees to be delivered. Only two out of four survived! Lousy company. I will never use them again or recommend them.

On November 2nd 2018 I placed an order for a 4-5’ black mission fig $49.95 plus $19.00 for shipping. I received the tree on November 13th and upon unpacking it was very disappointed, the tree was dried up with just a couple dried leaves left on it. I emailed Willis Orchards orders department and included a photo, I was assured that the tree was dormant and would be fine. After planting and carrying for it hoping it would re-leaf it never did.
I have been emailing them with no response for a refund or replacement.

I tried calling them and you can’t even leave a message.

Buyers beware! This is a scam company!

WARNING. THIS COMPANY SENDS DEAD PLANTS AND WILL NOT RETURN YOUR MONEY. DO NOT IGNORE THE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK/COMPLAINTS LIKE I DID. YOU WILL GET RIPPED OFF.. REPLACEMENT OFFERED BUT IF IT DIED OR ARRIVED DEAD - THEY WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING.

THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM - LOOK UP THE COMPLAINTS FROM THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU AND OTHER SOURCES

Buyers, beware. After placing a $500 order with Willis Orchards, they refused to replace a bare root tree, a Saijo Persimmon, that never broke dormancy and died in its sleep. I would guess that after buying 12 trees for $500, they would want to make this right and keep my business. Not only did the company refuse to replace a single tree from my order, but when I emailed them they responded with a cynical email which offered me a "packet of plant healthcare for my inconvenience".

The other persimmon trees of the order did not respond well or grow with as much vigor as trees I bought from a competing nursery. I suspected the poor performance may have been due in part to the rootstocks. None of the bare root whips were labeled with info about the rootstocks, so I called Willis Orchards to ask them what their trees were grafted with, and they did not know what their own trees were growing on.

My suggestion is to save yourself the headache and order from some other mail order nursery. I recently bought from Raintree Nursery and had a much better experience and received trees of superior vigor and size for the same money.

I give this company a rating of 0. They suck you in with good plants sent at a reasonable time that grow well. Then on your next order they sucker punch you. I live in northern Iowa 95 miles from Minnesota and they sent trees and of all things strawberry plants on November 28th. The ground was frozen but we planted and hoped for the best, the strawberries were planted indoors and we tried to keep them alive. I thought orchards were supposed to send plants when they had the best chance of survival and of course they won't replace the $30.00 of strawberry plants, I'm sure they are hoping I will reorder the strawberry plants. I ordered in good faith that they would send plants when they were supposed to be sent. All of the trees I purchased died and I have to pay to either send the trees back or send pictures and pay for the shipping for them to send me replacements. This doesn't sound like a company that I will ever do business with again. I also talked with one of their representative who talked over me the entire time and could have cared less what I was saying. My husband talked with the owner who pretty much had the same attitude. Unfortunately I can't say this is the worst I have ever dealt with. I ran several businesses in my younger days and if I ever caught one of my employees talking with a customer in this manner it would have been an immediate dismissal but then again they were taught that in their training.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't buy from this company it will be the only thing they understand.

6 of the seven items I ordered arrived healthy and are doing terrific. But the 7th item, a hardy pecan, didn't look good upon arrival but drinking from the fountain of hope I planted it and waited for it to leaf out. Eventually I gave up and contacted Willis Orchard. They do not give refunds (as stated on their website) however they also won't send replacement plants. They will give a $ credit to my account for future orders. But there won't be future orders as I believe in not ordering from a company that does not stand by their products.

Willis Orchards sells many, many fruit tree varieties. Their website doesn't specify root stock and, in fact, claims that some of their trees will grow in zones that they absolutely will not flourish in. So, since I live in the Piedmont area of NC and they are located in Cartersville, GA, we have similar climates. I emailed them to ask which plums, peaches and nectarines they recommend for my zone and what root stocks those trees are grown on. This is the response I received: "We are a southern company with trees and plants designed from different zones. If you are in Charlotte, then anything we grow you can grow. We will begin shipping to the Carolinas after Thanksgiving and up to April. ". Huh? So because they grow and sell Bing cherry trees and Blenheim apricots (probably in a greenhouse), that means I can grow those trees in my back yard? I think not - especially not knowing what root stock they are grown on. Because they grow trees "designed from different climates", that means I can grow all of them even though some are "designed" for zones other than my own?
Anyway, they didn't answer my questions about anything. So, I responded to their email as follows: "Thanks for responding. You said that you "are a Southern Company with trees and plants designed from different zones." So if you sell trees that work in many different climate zones, how can I grow "anything" you grow? I can only grow what works in my zone. I can't grow what works in California or Michigan! I was asking for specific suggestions of what grows best in the Charlotte area. Unfortunately your response was not at all helpful.

I will go elsewhere." And this is their response: "Each tree has a growing zone listed beside it.

You are zone 7. We are zone 7. We can grow the trees and you can grow the trees you wish to purchase.

The varieties are listed on our website. You can choose the items of your choose by reading descriptions. If you want a list of items that are particular to your area, your local county extension service can provide that
for you.". Wow, talk about customer service, or lack thereof, and caring about your customers! This is a factory that pumps out trees for the $$ and couldn't care less about the success of their customers. Why couldn't they take 5 minutes to offer advice and root stock details? Needless to say, they won't be getting my business. A few more things, they sell one plumcot hybrid and no mention of the plum and apricot cross or root stock. Their growing zones are inappropriate (clearly designed just to sell trees to the unknowing). Buying trees from them is like rolling the dice and hoping to get lucky.

Bought a Cleveland Pear from this company which arrived in a dried out state and appeared dead. None the less I planted it as instructed and cared for it for approximately 2 1/2 weeks. I never showed any signs of life. I emailed the company asking for a refund (less the $20 in shipping) and what I got was a long series of email questioning my ability to plant and care for this tree.
I eventually came to the conclusion that their policy is to wear of the customer out with endless emails until they gave up on the refund.
A pretty sleazy way to do business.

Purchased 4 peach trees, 3 cherry trees, and 3 grape vines. Two of the peach trees arrived in bad shape, the roots were dried out and broken. The trees were dead. Sent e-mail and pictures. They have not answered and appear to be a bad company to do business with. Beware

I bought apricot,cherry,blueberry,quince,apple tree from this company and couple berry bushes last year.I was so excited with their price and the bigger three you can get.Spend $$$ They came in a box squished all together and cut of side limps, and more horribly some threes are cut from roots!!.One tree was beheaded actually and just a stick.They put some kind of gelatin and all looked alive though.
Apricot and quince arrived a little damaged on the body.During summer, quince kind of died and come back still struggling .Apricot has a bark disease as well right know,cannot decide if I should get rid since its a big tree and these threes are fruiting size supposedly. which they did not !!! Cherry looks fine but no fruit as well... apple so so...berry bushes no good spend around 50 .I got some from lowes dollars each and they gave me fruits !!! Should I cry or laugh?

I am going to buy loquat ,sour cherry,plum,and pomegranates ,but will try **rolling river nursery** which has so many high ratings, this year.It looks like they are going to send small trees but I think its better.

I ordered some mayhaw trees which were actually seedlings of the varieties I wanted to order. I apparently didnt see the small listing for seedling next to descriptions of the named cultivars. Either way I ordered seedlings but they arrived with tags of the named cultivars they were seedlings of! This practice of labeling seedlings with the tag of a named cultivar is EXTREMELY FAUX PAS and should be noted by anyone trying to buy accurate cultivars. I've left an email last week with no response. I've called twice since I sent my email and the lady who answered the phone would only tell me that she will tell somebody that I called. That was very unprofessional or is she brain dead? My issue should be able to be solved by anyone who answers any ringing phone at any reputable nursery. Read the other reviews of Willis Orchard Company and you will see more of the same, sending people wrong/incorrect varieties for the sake of selling a plant. I WILL NEVER BUY FROM WILLIS AGAIN!

I have ordered 9 trees and asked about no pruning.
What I've received was just shocking. The trees arere chopped in a half, all have the same size as 1' tree although tree sizes were from 1' through 4'. A few trees look like thin twigs growing from the broken stumps. Tree bark is cracked and comes out, the roots are black and rotten, those rotten parts can be taken off with a light touch. I've sent them the pictures and no response on all of that issue. I am going to contact the state authorities and sue them.

I ordered two Damson plum trees from Willis Orchards about 8 years ago. The trees grew nicely but I have yet to have any plums ! One year, I had a handful of plums on one of the trees but they were clearly NOT Damson plums, they were some other variety, I was shipped the wrong variety. The other years, the trees blossomed nicely but WAY too early for Buffalo, NY - - usually around April 1 - 15 so the blossoms would freeze. My father had told me NOT to buy fruit trees from a Southern company because the trees are "programmed " to bloom too early and he was right ! So, I've taken the trees out this years and bought new plums trees from a local place that sources from an area tree farm and I know these are correct variety.

I have purchased and planted about 30 bare root fruit trees over the last ten years with almost entirely positive results.

Lat year, I bought two bare root cherries from Willis and paid about 3 times as much as I have paid for any other fruit tree. They were supposed to give me fruit the first year. I received two little things with hardly any branches or roots and already leafed out. I managed to nurse them through the first year.

Now in the second year, they are almost doing as well are three cherries for which I paid about a third the price and planted this spring. I don't anticipate any fruit for several years.

Incidentally, one of the trees I ordered from this nursery was a black gold cherry. When they shipped, the email invoice said it was a stella. The plastic tag says it is a black gold.

I will never do business with these people again.

I purchased 3 grape vines last July 2014. The vines were shipped and arrived in early November 2014. I paid nearly $40.00 for these vines which included a $19.00 shipping charge. I planted the vines within a day of receiving them as per the included instructions. As of today June 5th, 2015, the vines show no signs of life. I called the company and was sent an email on how to check and see if the vines were indeed dead. I did the test as instructed and found all 3 vines to be dead. I again called on how to get a refund for the dead vines. I was told that if I emailed a picture of the vines, I could receive 3 replacement vines by just paying $19.00 for shipping. I Already paid for shipping once and think it is unfair to ask me to pay another$19.00 for vines I already have paid $40.00 for. If I were to do this I would of ended up paying close to $60.00 for 3 grape vines. Also the replacement vines would not be shipped until November, once again making me wait until spring to see if they have survived. Then what? What if once again I find the vines are dead? Do I call again and have them replaced and spend another $19.00 for shipping? All I wanted was a refund, the gentleman on the phone stated no way , no how does this company offer refunds, replacements only and shipping for this item would be in November at a cost of $19.00. I have decided to go to a local nursery and buy the vines. In the meantime I am out the $40.00 and no growing grape vines. I would recommend anyone thinking about doing business with this company, think it over long and hard. My advice is to try a local nursery or a better rated grower. This company does not follow accepted business practices and should be avoided.

Ordered several varieties of apple and pear threes.

A couple of my trees on my order were really beat up. They had a lot of heavily damaged bark at about mid height. I planned on espaliering some so it wasn't too big of a deal. I did find out this year that a Chojuro Asian pear tree from a previous order is really a Kiefer pear. I contacted Willis Orchards about having the wrong pear and sent them pictures of the pears showing that they are not an Chojuro pear. Jay from Willis Orchards said that it looked like I had 2 different varieties on the tree. I sent further pictures from different angles showing positively that it was not in any way shape or form an Asian pear tree. I have not received any further response from them. I'd hate for anyone to spend the time tending to a tree for several years and ultimately find out that you don't have the same tree that you ordered. Based on my latest experiences I will no longer order from them.

I bought a Pomagranet tree last year. I planted it. It never came out of dormancy. Willis orchard replaced it this year. Waiting & hoping for better results. My problem with Willis Orchard is they promised a satisfaction guarantee. However, with the replacement, they provide no guarantee. Not sure if I will ever do business with them again. Waiting for tree to come out of dormancy again.

AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COST!!! . Ordered two fruit trees on 6/9/14 as advertised for zone 4 area. At a later date (after some research) I informed them they misrepresented zones in the fruit tree section and wanted to cancel my order, Spoke to Jay Young (customer service mgr.), put on hold for a bit only to be told that I was correct and the trees were not for zone 4 and would perish. Also told they would change the errors on their web page... (its been weeks and hasn't happened yet) I asked for refund and told I would get it minus 10%. I objected to the minus percentage refund due to the fact they misrepresented the product and was no fault of mine. And to just find out that they ship in March due to Georgia weather was my other reason for canceling, we still have snow on the ground up till May some seasons. They had plenty of time to refund my credit card and when asked why nothing has been posted yet they blamed the banks and credit card company.. Just got of the phone with both and nothing on Willis Orchard end is being done. When Jay was pressed on why all the 193 bad reviews at Dave's Garden, guess what? Not their fault, we are somewhat disgruntled...Maybe if enough of us wrote the Attorney Generals office of Georgia it would open their eyes up and deal with customers in a different way. I'm writing and mentioning Dave Watchdog site as evidence!!!

I wasn't happy with Willis. I wouldn't order from them again. I ordered $75 worth of berries. I had to remind them a couple months after ordering to receive them. I ordered mixed ages - from 1 to 3 year old canes. There was very little difference in the cane size. It took me two years to figure out that the Baba Berries I ordered were not Baba Berries, but Wineberries (sort of a weed berry). I emailed the company and sent a photo from a website as that was how I finally figured out that they weren't the correct berry. The service representative said I needed to send a photo from my garden of the fruiting berry but by that time the berries were gone. None of the berries I got from them did very well. I bought some golden berries and they didn't produce either. The shipping was on the high side as well for what I received - a box that weighed about a pound with about a dozen spindly canes in it. Not worth the money and lousy customer service.

I recommend that you use another vendor other than Willis Orchard Company for your plants and trees. I made my order in early March 2013 and received my products in early April 2013. I had pre-dug holes for each of the items, sprayed them down thoroughly upon arrival, and quickly got them into the ground. I kept the plants well-watered during the 2013 growing season. My results with their products were highly disappointing.

All-in-one Almond tree: No leaves or growth in 2013 or 2014

Mahan and Hican Pecan trees: 2013- one tree had three leaves, other no leaves or growth; 2014- no leaves or growth on either tree

Anne Raspberry plants (5):- 2013- two plants had a few leaves; 2014- no leaves or growth on any plants

Chickasaw Plum tree: No leaves or growth in 2013 and 2014

In contrast, cherry, fig, apple, and pear trees from other vendors grew very well on my property in 2013 and 2014. In contrast, Anne Raspberry plants from Burpee grew very well on my property in 2014.

I am a gardener with 40 years of experience. I did not contact Willis Orchard for an exchange because, quite frankly, I do not wish to receive more weak trees and plants that will take up my time and fail to prosper.

First time, Last time. They shipped only one out of eight blue berries from a four different type combo offer I ordered. I Called and was told to send pictures--I guess they did not believe me. Called again and was told"Steve" could help, and he did agree to ship the remaining plants. Problem was only four of the eight plants were tagged with the type bush . They told me that the plants should have been separated in tagged pairs and tied together. This was not the case. The excuse was that there was a new "FED EX guy. WHAT??? My plan was to track the progress of the four types to see which I may want to order next time. They offered no resolution and said there was nothing that could be done. I was told by a lady to send pictures of the eight plants and that they would be able to identify which was which. Someone called me after I sent the pictures and asked why I had sent the pictures. Guess they do not convey messages.

In my business if I had made such a mistake I would have offered the customer the option of returning the plants at my expense and would have made certain the order was shipped out correctly.

This company lacks training, quality control, internal communication and management that cares about customer service. Look elsewhere for you gardening needs.

I welcome a response from the management team to prove they are listening to their customers. I find that the negative comments on this site indicates they do not and could care less.

I have done business with online nurseries for years but have never been as unhappy with the product as I am with my first (and last) order from Willis Orchards.

In October I ordered 6 apple trees and 5 drake elms. Taking note that part of the order would not be shipped until the 10th of November I monitored my email after that date for a shipping notice. None came and about a week later I called them to inquire about when to expect shipment. I was informed they did not ship until December. Upon receiving this information I requested they ship ASAP as I wanted the trees by my birthday on the 24th of November. They shipped them on the 24th and receipt was made via fedex on the 26th. Holes had already been dug and fertilizer added for the trees arrival. The apples will probably survive but note there was only 1 of the 6 that had a single leaf remaining. All of the others were bare. The drake elms were the most spindly looking things imaginable and did not have a green leaf amongst them. The remaining leaves were dead. They appeared to have been harvested weeks before they were shipped. Of the 5 received, one had a large gash about 3 inches long in the bottom of the trunk. Here in Florida that means an infected tree that will die within the year. I threw it in the garbage.

I will not do business with this company again and will warn others about them.

"On Dec 1, 2014 10:18 AM, Willis Orchard Company responded with:

Dear Reviewer,

The trees you mention are not supposed to has leaves at this time of year. They are supposed to be dormant when transplanted. That is why they are not shipped any earlier than mid November. We ship the northern states first then start on the southern states so we typically don't start shipping these type of trees to Florida until December, which is the beginning of planting season for that area. If you will contact us regarding your order, we will take care of any problems you have. Also you should not add fertilizer when planting bare-root trees, as stated on the planting guide accompanying the order.

Respectfully,
J. Willis"

I ordered cherry trees, grapes, and raspberries in September. It's now almost December. I'm in upstate NY and it is way too late to plant. When I called Willis Nursery they treated me horribly! The worst customer service I've ever had! I asked what I should do with the grapes when they got here since you should plant them in the Spring. She said there was some button on the order form and offered NO help. I spent $100 and like many many times before expected my plants to be shipped when it was time to plant them. I've always ordered in the Fall for my Spring planting. The guy (once transferred from the wicked witch) pulled up my weather and we are having a freakish warm day..ONE day.. and asked what my problem was. The problem is is that it will be 20 in another day again. The snow just melted so I can see the ground. RUDE RUDE RUDE. I so wish I had found these reviews before I went with them. I am going to try to save anyone I can from ordering from them.

I received four trees last spring-
Two survived two did not, in spite of being in equal sized pots and cared for equally-
The Stewartia and the Indian Peach never emerged from dormancy.

I called and was told that I did not have to send them back- I offered to send the pictures but the rep assured me that she knew I was right and would supply a store credit-
Today I called and was told that if I want the trees I have to pay another nineteen dollars for shipping-That is their minimum-
So now I have a 20- store credit and have to pay almost as much for shipping if I want to ransom my money. Also, apparently their attitude towards items that are sent dormant is that it is my problem if nothing happens when I plant them.

Of course, too late I read all the other complaints about Willis Orchards so I guess I am out the 20- bucks.

The new rep was adamant that I had to send the two dead sticks back or supply pictures. I do have the pictures somewhere I think,
But the whole idea-their attitude is just not the way other legitimate
and reputable companies operate.

All of the other mail order companies I deal with have always acknowledged a problem, if rarely there was one.
For instance, last spring I received a dormant tree from a very reputable company- One of four and it did not emerge- The rep assured me that this sometimes happens and sent a refund nor pictures or sticks required.
If my twenty dollars is that important to them I guess they can put it toward their advertising to try to reclaim their reputation.
I would never deal with them again and will tell my garden club to think twice. Willis Orchard just bought a whole lot of bad advertising on my twenty dollars.

I tried them for fruit trees....they had a great website....and several weeks after the promised delivery date, I received the now half dead trees. I asked for a refund....I did not plant living trees and have them die by my fault...I did not receive what was promised...but NO REFUND....and the lady on the phone was pretty rude in addition.

I would never order anything from them again, and neither should you.

I ordered three fruit trees this past Spring. They were all shipped VERY late. The size was what I expected but upon close examination I noticed that the buds had broken dormancy and had been stripped from the branches. The apricot and peach never showed any sign of life. The Bosc pear sprouted BELOW the graft from rootstock. Everything above the graft turned black. Their guarantee anad return policy is not evernbothering with over three trees. I will order from a reputable source. My own fault for not reading the negative reviews from gardeners.

I ordered an angel red pomegranate from these guys over the winter and kept it in a container indoors and then moved it outside in June. It has never leafed out but it sprouted a new stalk from the roots; the top of the tree was dead on arrival.

When I called and described the issue, the woman explained that pomegranates can die back on top and start over, much like figs. I again explained that the tree was not outdoors here in the winter, and she told me that they don't keep the trees in a greenhouse and had a cold winter...the implication is that the dieback happened on their end. When I asked why I had bothered to pay for an older tree that was dead up top, she transferred me. I explained the situation again to the next guy, and he attempted to place the blame on me for the dead top growth (my coast of maine potting soil isn't good enough?). I again noted that the tree is alive (it sprouted from the base) so the soil seems not to be an issue, it's just dead on top. He changed up their answer here and said it was grown in a greenhouse and it's not their fault...he claims I must've killed it somehow.

Bad tree and bad service.

I've spent over $200 to get nothing but DEAD trees!

It’s really hit and miss with Willis Orchards. You have to be very careful what you order from them. They ship their Fruit trees “Dry Root” They ship in the spring when the trees are dormant, but they do not perform any kind of “Live” test. Both our original Fruit trees and their replacements were dead! Three years wasted when we could have gotten our trees from a more reputable and professional grower.

Ordered two trees from this company and via email notified them that the weather in Az was heating up and if they could ship my plants sooner than what their website stated.
They agreed and sent an estimated shipping date with 3-4 shipping time.
It has now been three weeks and my order has not arrived. It will not arrive for 2-3 more days. Per the shipping company, Willis Orchard did not ship my product to arrive in 3-4 days like their salesperson indicated in her email and neither did they ship my plants early like they stated they would.
When I called them to find out why it was taking so long, they stated that I fell into their "busy" period and kept transferring me from person to person who simply stated they had done their part and i just needed to wait.
If the company had been honest in their emails regarding shipping of my plants and their arrival I feel I would have been able to make a more informed decision as to my order.
They said what they had to say to get my business and then they washed their hands when I called regarding my order.
They had their money and didn't care about conveying accurate information.

I ordered 4 PawPaw trees to be shipped to me in the Fall. I received them mid November after the ground was frozen. I had my professional Gardner come out and install them the same day they arrived. He told me that this time of year that they would not survive, they should have been shipped a month earlier.
He was right, I have 4 dead trees. I sent an email asking for a replacement & they said that I would have to pay shipping & handling charges to get replacements or send the dead ones back at my cost & they would send out replacements.
I asked them how it was my fault that they sent them out to late & they replied that this is their procedure and there is nothing they will do for me.
Its back to Gurneys for me! Their replacement policy rocks and Willis Orchard sucks.
Don't do it, not even for a second, Willis Orchard is a rip off.

I will never shop here again! Sorry I did! Last spring I ordered a pomegranate tree almost $100. Before I put in the order I read reviews of the company and as you can see here - they are mostly bad. Not using my best judgment I ignored them and put the order in. Big mistake! The tree came completely dead. I called right away and the lady on the phone told me to give it some time. So I did. It never budded at all. So I called back in May and I was told again to give it some time. Still never budded and not one leaf! I did a scratch test in different spots and the tree was not green. Dead! Just like I told her! I called back to get a replacement and was told that they do not ship trees over the summer and to call back next season and they would send a new one. I called March which is the beginning of our planting season. I was told that I would need to pay for the shipping of the new tree. Why should I do that?! I already paid for the shipping A YEAR AGO and this company sent a dead tree! I am only located a few hours away as we are in the same state so I don't believe that it died in shipping. It was dead when they sent it. Horrible customer service and dead plants - taking my business someplace else and working on disputing this on my credit card as they NEVER sent me a live tree.

You get what you pay for. If you send a message saying your plants died, you have not in fact requested the warranty replacement. At least this was my experience. Notification apparently does not equal a request. It was a small order and a 100% loss. I requested a later shipment, but got the bare root stock months before the ground thawed. I tried to nurse them, but they all died.

So, given the number of negative posts, it appears as if doing business with Willis is a crap shoot. Some posters are happy, most are not. I'll go back to buying locally. YMMV

There are a few things worth pointing out about this company.

First, they are incredibly nice when you initially deal with them. However, in business, things go wrong all the time. I think it is how you deal with those things that really matter. There is no question they made a mistake when I witnessed these folks talking with a family member of mine. However, they quickly became irate and very nasty in their discussions when the family member was trying to reason with them.

The second thing made obvious is that I was amazed (with attitudes like that) at how reasonably positive the customer reviews have been on their website. It contradicts the tone found on Dave's Garden reviews. I learned how this is possible. I posted a negative review on that website, and The Willis management challenged my review. To have the negative review posted, then I would have needed to fax a receipt to show I am a customer. If you didn't save documentation or if their attitudes caused such distaste that you didn't make a purchase, then you likely would be prevented from making a negative post. That seems pretty convenient. I wonder how many receipts might be required if someone wanted to ever improve their own score and write their own positive reviews of themselves?

"On Dec 26, 2013 12:22 PM, Willis Orchard Company responded with:

I asked every rep here to read this and give any feedback as to what this is about. We are perplexed as to what this post is referring too.
They did try to make a post on Customer Lobby that basically accused of being rude, nasty people. However when I used the name and email given in the post and checked it with our customer database, there was no match. So I did challenge the review and it was removed, as they we not an actual customer of ours. Also the post did not speak specifically to an event or critic a product or service. It just blasted us personally as being awful people. It's to bad DG doesn't have any kind of safe guards to ensure the posts are actually qualified reviewers. If it did, many of the negatives here would be gone. It would eliminate false posts by non-customers or competitors.
I really wish I knew DMBerry and what this post is about so that I could better respond and attempt to make things right with them.
Anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone and I wish you blessed new year."

Christmas is upcoming, and I called Willis to schedule an appointment to pick up some plants. These plants were to be gifts for my young son who has a passion for gardening and farming. I had asked to make the appointment for this coming Saturday (called on Tuesday or Wednesday). According to their website, this is an option for orders over $200.

A very polite lady named Cynthia told me an appointment wasn't necessary. I live an hour away, and she told me to call ahead and place my order on Saturday before leaving to go to their nursery.

When I called them as requested, this nice lady wasn't as pleasant this time. She told me that picking up today is not an option. She told me I should probably get my son a gift card and pick up the plants after Christmas (out of town later and a later delivery is not an option). Very simply, this is my son's "big gift," and a gift card can't be a youngsters big gift under the tree. As opposed to what she told me earlier, Cynthia said I should have given her 24 hours notice. Of course, I would have been happy to do that if that had been her earlier instruction.

Obviously, these guys hold the cards, and there isn't much I can do. However, most nursery people are good folks and real "Mother Earth" type people. These folks (talked with 2 different people) were quite indifferent about my situation.

Trust me, go to Ellijay... The folks I have worked with in Ellijay are good "salt of the earth" and "hands in the dirt" type of kind people. I hope my comments will help others avoid the same problem with Willis.

Also, it is very interesting that Willis has such a poor rating on this website. However, the reviews they post on their website are all so positive. I posted my negative review on that site as well. It will be interesting to see if it is displayed.

"On Dec 16, 2013 10:17 AM, Willis Orchard Company responded with:

Normally to call ahead in the morning and pick-up a couple hours later would be fine. However, on this particular Saturday, it was raining cats and dogs so we let our outside crew off for the day prior to receiving his call. Christmas is still a week and a half away so he could have decided to come another day when the weather wasn't so bad. We're sorry he doesn't understand our position and is angry at us."

would like to submit a complain regarding Willis Orchard company.



I had to cancel my order and they insisted I still pay 10%. I cancelled the order b/c it would not arrive in time.

-At no time did they inform it the order wouldnt ship for weeks.

-They stated I had to cancel the order within 24hrs. They were closed for a week. there was no way for me to contact them within 24hrs. and when I did finally get a hold of them (a week later) then and only then did I realize they wouldn't ship my order in any normal time frame.

-never the less they told me it was my error and insisted on making some money off of me for something I never purchaced

In January 2013 I ordered six wine grape vines from Willis Orchards. I live in Kentucky and assumed they would be shipped to me at the proper planting time. Instead they arrived in mid-February when the ground was frozen and there was three inches of snow. A representative casually instructed me to put the bare root vines in a bucket filled with potting soil and leave them in my garage. (Just what I wanted in my garage for a month and a half, a half dozen grape vines waiting to be planted!) I planted them in late March. Five of the six have done quite well, but the sixth is dead. I contacted Jay at Willis Orchards. He told me he would give me credit toward another vine but I would have to pay shipping (which would cost more than the vine itself, plus he would charge me $1 to use my credit card to pay for shipping to replace a vine that quite possibly died because Willis shipped the vines about six weeks too early. Willis is a very amateurish business. They are not people-friendly and do not stand behind their product.

Beware of this company. I defy anyone to actually get a live human being on the phone. Fancy website and lousy customer service make it seem like an internet scam disguised as a nursery